Pig casting machine



P. BUTTKEREIT ETAL 3,267,530

Aug. 23, 1966 PIG CASTING MACHINE 4 Shgets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1 14 INVENTOIU Aug. 23, 1956 P. BUTTKEREIT ETAL 3,267,530

PIG CASTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 19, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 25' 4a 43 I 64 L 1- INVENTORJ BY [mam/W Aug. 1966 P. BUTTKEREIT ETAL. 3,267,530

PIG CASTING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 19, 1963 2L lq- 17 60 INVENTORY M Wk 1956 P. BUTTKEREIT ETAL 3, 7, 0

PIG CASTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 19, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent 3,267,530 PIG CASTING MACHINE Paul Buttkereit, Wuppertal-Barmen, and Walter Wolf,

Dortmund-Keane, Germany, assiguors to Firma Wuppermetali G.m.b.I-I., Wuppertal-Barmen, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Nov. 19, 1963, Ser. No. 324,702 Claims priority, application Germany, Feb. 23, 1963,

W 33,967 4 Claims. (Cl. 22-63) The present invention relates to a pig casting machine, in general and to such pig casting machine in particular, in which in repeating succession, always one group of chills is conveyed below a plurality of casting lips, corresponding in number with the number of chills, and from there to a pus-hing device, which is followed by a storing device moving together in layers the pigs of each group of chills.

In order to increase the output of the pig casting machines, efforts have been made for several years, to perform as much as possible automatically all operational steps starting with the casting of the individual pigs up to the removal of the finished storing unit.

A pig casting machine is, thus, already known, which casts, defoams and stamps always simultaneously a plurality of pigs by means of a rotary table advanced by intermittent strokes and carrying the sets of chills and finally lifts the cooled pigs by means of cam-controlled shafts out of their chills. An automatically controlled removal device is inserted in the working cycle. This device assumes the reception as well as the transmittal always of one group of pigs to a rotatable storing table. In order to grip the pigs, the latter are taken from below by tongues which are operated by a pressure medium. In order to make possible hereby an easy gripping of the pigs from below the latter are equipped with corresponding gripping projections at their free ends. The storing table can be turned for 90 after each deposition of a layer of pigs. If the desired height of the pile is reached, the transportation of the .pile into stock can be performed, for example, by means of a fork lifting device. For this purpose the lifting arms of the fork lifting device grip now from below the gripping projections of the pigs, and in particular of the lowermost layer of pigs.

Such a group of contiguously adjacent individual pigs can though be used in some cases as a sufiicient base in the resting position of the pile, yet during the following transportation, such a loose base affects disadvantageously the coherence of the yet loosely composed pile formation, even in case of providing a strap surrounding the pile. As in particular the practice shows, it is also by no means possible to cast pigs with exactly the same height relative to each other, so that a maximum height difference of the lowermost pig layer serving as a base for the pile makes questionable any further transportation already from the beginning. Taking into consideration this condition, only small heights of the piles can thus be obtained. Last, but not least, the gripping of the pile by the fork lifting device requires an appreciably skilled and careful maneuvering by the operator.

In a method of storing of pigs it is moreover already known, to use specially designed, so-called carrying pigs for the piling up of the pigs. The carrying pigs have the same dimensions as the remainder of the pigs to be piled up, merely .feet have been added to the carrying pigs, which lift the actual pig body apart from the bottom surface as centrally as possible, in order to permit thus the insertion of the lifting fork of the fork lifting device. Such foot pigs do not bring about the desired position stability of 'a pile of pigs. They are also not forcibly injected into the rhythm of the casting and piling process.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a pig casting machine, wherein the above mentioned drawbacks are avoided, and in which the pile formation, and in particular also the removal of the pile, is simplified and operationally safe, continuously and performalble in a self-controllable working cycle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a pig casting machine, wherein, in an advantageous manner, a chill in pallet form is interposed in the repeated sequence of the groups of chills.

Thus, the presumption for an efiicient and safely operating process for the :fully automatic manufacture of piles ready for marketing is provided, since the chills traveling in the working cycle present all parts required for the manufacture of such a pile in a pre-arranged sequence. Upon putting into operation the casting machine, the filling of the chill in pallet form is the start. The pallet cast in this chill consequently reaches over the removal point the storing table as a first cast unit. The pigs cast in the chill groups follow in rhythmical succession in order to be piled up, in known manner, in layers set off relative to the adjacent layer, and by the same storing device which has deposited previously the pallet into its appropriate and correct position. Relative to the following transportation of the completed pile unit, the presence of such pallet has an advantageous effect upon the gripping by the fork lifting device. Particularly, the sufficient distance between the legs of the pallets permits insertion of the lifting fork of the lifting device from all sides for the purpose of transportation.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pig casting machine, wherein a favorable and advantageous manner of manufacture of the pallet is realized, when the chill for casting the square pallet body has at both sides inlet troughs extending along the range of the adjacent casting lips, which troughs are separated from the square part of the pallet chill by sharp-edged overflow walls. By this arrangement it is moreover brought about that for the filling of the pallet chill, likewise all casting lips of the casting device are avail-able, as is the case for the [filling of the normal groups of chills. The automatically controlled intermittent advance is thus maintained also during the casting of the pallet part. The casting material remaining in the inlet troughs breaks off easily in its solidified state during the lifting of the pallet, so that a pallet with a square loading surface is available for the piling process. The break notches are formed by the sharp-edged overflow walls of the pallet chills.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a pig casting machine, wherein a suitable design of the pallet is brought about by providing a plurality of cores disposed adjacent each other along the longitudinal center line of the chill in the pallet chills, for the production of openings in the pallet surface serving for the entrance of a straightening rake of the take-off device. The straightening rake ensures a certain adjustment of the position of the pallet, as well as of the following pig groups, and in particular before they are forwarded to the rotary piling table. In addition, the openings formed by the cores can advantageously be used as a break mark, and in particular, during the later melting down of the pallet.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pig casting machine having an advantageous design for the gripping of the pallet by the receiving device, which design is brought about by providing in the pallet chill on opposite sides recesses in the form of the cross section of the pigs, and which recesses are spaced apart from each other. Thus, the square pallet receives simultaneously the gripping projections required for its lifting.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a pig casting machine;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the pig casting machine disclosed in FIG. 1 and showing the arrangement of the pallet chill according to the present invention and of the other chill groups;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section taken along the lines 33 of FIG. 1 at an enlarged scale;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a filled pallet chill;

FIG. 5 is a section taken along the lines 5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a front elevation of the finished cast pallet, the cast-on projections being broken away;

FIG. 7 is an elevation of the gripping device, partly in section; and

FIG. 8 illustrates the process of depositing of a group of pigs onto the pallet.

Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, the completely automatically operating pig casting machine comprises a rotary table 1, a pouring device 2 and, furthermore, a bridge 3 disposed tangentially to the rotary table 1 and including a removal device 4.

The drive for the rotary table 1 is obtained by a motor 5. An intermittently operating actuating means 6 is coordinated to the motor 5, a switching lever 8 of which being equipped with rollers 7, is in mesh with switching teeth 9 of the rotary table 1, so that the latter is moved stepwise in the direction of the arrow x (FIG. 2).

A plurality of groups 16 of individual chills 10' are arranged annularly and in radial direction on the edge portion 1 of the rotary table 1, which groups 10 pass successively the pouring device 2, in order to reach then the removal device 4 during the stepwise advancing movement. A casting lip 11 is coordinated to each individual chill 10' of a chill group 10 and the casting material flows through the lips 11 into the chills 10' upon tipping the ladle 12.

Furthermore, a chill 13 is inserted in the sequence of the chill groups 10 for the production of a pallet 14 (FIG. 6). The casting material is fed also into this pallet chill 13 by means of all casting lips 11, so that the time for filling is the same for all chills. Therefore, the pallet chill 13 has inlet troughs 15 projecting on opposite sides beyond the proper square form of the pallet body, which troughs 15 extend at their widest portions over the area of the casting lips 11. The depth of the troughs 15 is, however, relatively small, so that only relatively little metal circulating between casting and melting remains in those troughs 15. Thus, during the same tipping time of the casting lips 11 substantially the same amount of material can flow into the pallet chill 13 as into a chill group 10. Opposite the range of the casting lips 10, the inlet troughs 15 are tapered down to the actual width of the square pallet chill 13.

During the subsequent lifting of the pallet 14 from the chill 13 prior to reaching the storing device, which pallet 14 is already sufiiciently cooled before reaching the storing device, the cast-on projections 16, formed by the contents of the inlet troughs 15 and representing circulating material, break off easily, this breaking off being caused by an expulsion device. The projections 16 are hereafter conveyed again to the melting furnaces. The breaking notches 17 are formed during the casting process 'by the two parallel extending sharp-edge overflow walls 18 (FIG. 5).

Furthermore, cores 19 are provided along the longitudinal center line yy of the pallet chill 13. These cores 19 form the openings 20 in the loading surface of the pallet 14 and permit the entrance of a straightening rake 21 (FIG. 3) of the removing device 4. By the provision of cores 22 further openings 23 can be obtained in the loading surface of the pallet 14.

Finally, the pallet chill 13 is provided with recesses 24 arranged at opposite sides and spaced apart from each other by the distance z. These recesses 24 produce the gripping projections 25 serving the purpose of gripping of the pallet by the removing device 4. The gripping projections 25 have moreover the same cross-section as the pigs 26 (FIG. 8). The pallet 14 is equipped with legs 27, so that a four-way penetration of the lifting fork, for example, a fork storing device, into the tunnellike, free space 28 is made possible.

The removal of the meanwhile cooled groups of pigs .26, as well as of the pallets 14 repeating in predetermined distances, is also performed within the cycle of the casting process.

Referring now again to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 3, the corresponding removal device 4 is disclosed. At first, the rotary table 1 is automatically adjusted as to its position by means of an arresting device 29, after a group 10 of chills 10 is in a position below the removal device 4. Hydraulically or pneumatically operated cylindrical shafts 30, which are simultaneously projecting through the bottoms 10" of all chills 10 of a chill group 10, lift the pigs 26 of this chill group into the position indicated in point-dotted lines in FIG. 3. The swingable gripping arms 32 of a lifting device 33, which gripping arms 32 are equipped with shoes 31, grip the free ends 26 of the pigs 26, in order to move the latter into the position shown in full lines in FIG. 3. v

The gripping arms 32 are pivotally mounted on a yoke '34, which is secured to the lower end of the piston rod v 35 of a working cylinder 36 and thus transmits the lifting movements. The relatively performed swinging movement of the gripping arms 32 is brought about by means of hydraulically controlled cylinders 37, which are pivoted at one end to the yoke 34 and at the other end to the gripping arms 32. i

During the upwardly directed movement of the lifting device 33 a turning of every second pig 26, and in particular for 180, about its longitudinal axis takes place simultaneously, so that at a later time point a moving to each other of the individual pigs 26, without leaving any space therebetween, is possible, whereby the pigs 26 have a trapezoidal cross section also for reasons of the casting technique. Rigidly secured shoes 31 are, therefore, coordinated to the pigs 26 which are not to be turned over, whereas rotatable shoes 31 are coordinated to the pigs 26 to be turned over. The rotatable shoes 31 are provided with shaft pins 38, which reach into a housing-like projection 39 of the gripping arms 32. A toothed gear 40 is keyed to the free end of each of the shaft pins 38, which toothed gear 40 is in connection with a gear rack 41 (FIGS. 3 and 7) which is subjected to the action of a pressure medium and causes the turning movement. The working cylinder 42 driving the gear rack 41 is, preferably, housed in the housing-like projection 39.

After performed turning of always the second pig 26 is completed, the straightening rake 21 (FIGS. 3 and 7) is now lowered. The rake 21 has the task of adjustment of the position of the group of pigs 26, such that always one pair of teeth 43 of the straightening rake 21 grips noses 26 cast on the longitudinal sides of the pigs 26. Thus, any displacement of the pigs 26, particularly in the direction of the longitudinal axis, is prevented, so that now the entire group of pigs 26 can be released for the purpose of transferring it to a transportation carriage 44; that means, the gripping arms 32 swing out, therefore, in the direction of the arrow a (FIG. 3). The straightening rake 21, controlled by means of two lifting cylinders 45 (FIG. 7), is equipped with a connecting frame 46 for the purpose of providing a good parallel guidance.

The transportation carriage 44, conveying the pig group from the removal device 4 to a piling device 47 (FIG. 1), has a fork 48 gripping from below the pig group and furthermore rollers running on stationary rails 49 (FIGS. 3 and 7). The drive of the carriage 44, appropriately adapted to the working cycle of the machine, takes,

place by means of pulling chains 51, which in turn are guided over winches 52 and directional pulleys 53 and are connected with a working cylinder 54- (FIG. 1).

Shortly before terminating the movement of the transportation carriage 44 in the direction towards the piling device 47, a movement near to each other and a following stripping off of the group of pigs 26 takes place, and in particular, by means of a stationary abutment angle 55 (FIG. 8).

The stripping off of the pig groups, as well as the stripping off of the pallet 14-, previously performed in the same manner, which pallet 14 serves as a loading surface, takes place exactly above the combined lifting and rotary table 56 (FIG. 1) constituting the piling device 47. After each deposit of a layer of pigs 26, a lowering cylinder 57 arranged directly above the piling device 47 in the bridge 3 presses the pile downwardly for a corresponding length by means of a stamping plate 58, so that a sufiiciently large free space for the displacement of the fork 48 of the carriage 44 is again available and, whereby, also the pig group is maintained free from turning. The lowering movement of the stamping plate 58 is also performed within the working cycle of the machine.

A car 59 guided on tracks 59 carries the completed pile, for example, into a pile store, where it is taken over by a lifting device and fed to a weighing device, in order to be shipped as a pile unit ready for selling.

During the expulsion of the pallet 14 from the pallet chill 13, the shoes 31 only, which are rigidly mounted on the gripping arms 32, grip the gripping projections 25 formed at the pallet 14. The shoes 31, which normally bring about the turning of every second pig 26, turn, thereby, idle, and in particular in the recesses 60 (FIG. 4) of the pallet 14 formed at distances z of the gripping projections 25.

The casting output of a pig casting machine depends, not the least, also upon a possibly fastest cooling of the chill groups. Therefore, cooling air channels 61 (FIG. 3) are provided below the bottom of the chill groups 10, as well as, below the pallet chill 13. These channels 61 have guide walls 62 (FIGS. 1 and 3) disposed in the direction of the flow of the cooling air, furthermore outwardly directed suction openings 63 and insidely disposed knee-shaped branches 64 (FIGS. 2 and 3). The latter move within the cycle of the stepwise advance stroke over corresponding branches 65 of a cooling channel 66 (FIGS. 1 and 2), which is connected to a suction blower (not shown). The cooling channel 66 is of about horseshoe shape, so that the chill groups 10, disposed in the closer range of the removal device 4, are not connected with the cooling air.

6 While we have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined by the objects and the claims.

We claim: 1. A pig casting machine, comprising a plurality of groups of chills arranged in repeated succession and forming pigs, means for pouring material into each of said groups of chills and including casting lips equal in number with that of said chills in each of said groups, an expulsion means, means for moving successively each of said groups of chills into a position below the corresponding of said pouring lips, and thereafter to said expulsion means, means for moving close to each other to form a layer of said pigs of each of said groups of chills and following said expulsion means, and a pallet chill disposed in the repeated succession of said group of chills. 2. The pig casting machine, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pallet chill has oppositely disposed inlet troughs extending beyond the range of said casting lips and adapted to casting square pallet bodies, and said inlet troughs have sharp edged overflow walls separating said inlet troughs from said square pallet body. 3. The pig casting machine, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pallet chill has a plurality of cores disposed adjacent each other along an imaginary longitudinal center line, and said cores are adapted to form recesses in the pallet surface serving to receive a direction rake of a rernoval device. 4. The pig casting machine, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pallet chill has a plurality of recesses at opposite sides thereof and spaced apart from each other and said recesses are complementary to the cross-section of said pigs.

No references cited.

J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner.

V. K. RISING, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A PIG CASTING MACHINE, COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF GROUPS OF CHILLS ARRANGED IN REPEATED SUCCESSION AND FORMING PIGS, MEANS FOR POURING MATERIAL INTO EACH OF SAID GROUPS OF CHILLS AND INCLUDING CASTING LIPS EQUAL IN NUMBER WITH THAT OF SAID CHILLS IN EACH OF SAID GROUPS, AN EXPULSION MEANS, MEANS FOR MOVING SUCCESSIVELY EACH OF SAID GROUPS OF CHILLS INTO A POSITION BELOW THE CORRESPONDING OF SAID POURING LIPS, AND THEREAFTER TO SAID EXPULSION MEANS, MEANS FOR MOVING CLOSE TO EACH OTHER TO FORM A LAYER OF SAID PIGS OF EACH OF SAID GROUPS OF CHILLS AND FOLLOWING SAID EXPULSION MEANS, AND 